Saturday, 22 April 2017

The artwork was just the inspiration that I needed to scrap some photos from the
dawn service we attended for the 100 year recognition of ANZAC day, and I happen
to have some flairs especially for the theme too. I was also inspired to
recreate a watercolour kind of background with the dots of poppies like in the
artwork.

Hello, my name is Katie Howard and I am a self-confessed
obsessed scrapbooker! I am from Brisbane and live with my husband and three
teenage kids. I have been seriously scrapping since around the time my youngest
was born, so around 13 years! (that surprises even me!) My proudest scrapping
achievement was being asked to be a Creative Team member for Scrapbooking
Memories. As far as my style, well, it is a little hard to define! I dabble in
many things, but probably the most consistent thing on my pages is layers and
embellishment clusters. I have been known to dabble in mixed media backgrounds,
but also like clean lines, so I call my style – “go with the flow”!

I am currently designing for Charms Creations, Rainbow
Splendour and Scrapbooking Top 50 and have also had the pleasure of being a
part of Kraft+, Scrap the Boys, Scrap the Girls, White With 1 and D’lish
Scraps.

You can find my blog here: www.katiehs-life.blogspot.com.au,
and I must admit, I don’t update this quite as often as I should! But most of
my projects usually end up there. You can also find me on Facebook in many of
the scrapbooking communities and groups.

Thanks for having me at ARTastic!

Katie x

Thank you so much for joining us this month Katie.

Remember ....

You still have time until the end of the month to upload your own take on this challenge. All details are on the blog sidebar. We'd love to see what you can do with our inspiration this month.

Saturday, 15 April 2017

This month we feature an ANZAC tribute artwork by Kenneth MacQueen called Wild Poppies. Our criteria this month is to use pops of red on your page.

CRITERIA - Pops of redWe'd love to see your entries - this isn't difficult, just add some splashes of red to your layouts - this can be paint or ink, or enamel dots, rhinestones or even buttons. Add some flowers, hearts or stars in red. It can be any theme at all it doesn't have to be related to a memorial day.

And some fantastic inspiration from our second team ...

HELENE

As Sweden has not been to war for over 200 years we do not have any memorial
day similar to ANZAC. I therefore just picked a photo that goes along with red.
My pop of red is a rub-on "tattoo" and splashes of red mist.

TONE

The photos are taken in a small zoo....and the title says "Are you snotty?

KRIPA

I made an art journal page using a little pop of red and a quote which i imagine our war heroes would agree with: A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not on the branch but on her own wings. Believe in yourself.

ANNA

I made a card this time ❤ I was inspired of the red poppies and the watercolor effect. I smooshed with some red distress ink +water on my background . The sentiment is inspired of the tribute/remembering theme.

ANGELIKA

JANE

In 2015 and 2016 a local community group undertook a massive "Poppy Poject" to handmake thousands and thousands of poppies for the 100 Year anniversary of Gallipoli and WW1. These were made with crepe paper and a lot were done with crochet - a truly massive job.

Now it is your turn, we'd love to see your own interpretation. You have until 11.55pm on the last day of the month to submit your entry.

Saturday, 8 April 2017

I will be announcing our March winners shortly but first I would like to introduce you to our Tips, Tricks and Techniques for April brought to you by team member, Judy Willey.

A background by Judy Willey

Hi Everyone, this month I thought I would show you some of the techniques that I
used to make my background for this month's challenge, using watercolour paints
and inks. I created the sky using a stamp pad and a simple cloud template.

By moving the template slightly to the left or right as you move down the
page, you can achieve the effect of fluffy clouds. I ink upwards from the
template fading and blending as I go.

Watercolours are quite popular at the moment and they are a fun way to
create a background especially if you are looking to achieve a particular
colour.

Initially I felt I had too much green so I kept adding grey tones and watched
the colours blend.

Then, when the paper dried I sketched some stems and buds.

Then I placed the matted photo and flowers in place and finished off with some
fussy cut, embossed clouds and some journalling.

Background watercolour work is always fun and I am never too sure how it
will look when it dries. Don’t despair if its not quite what you wanted - keep
adding to it until you are happy!

Why not give water colours a go if you haven’t tried them before.

Have fun - can’t wait to see what you create for this months challenge.

now onto our March winners ..... super thrilled to have all of you play along with us last month - thank you !

Our main winner for March is #9 Louise with this fantastic page.

Our random draw winner is #3 Saturday Scrappers

Donated by Helene Bogren

Congratulations ladies.

Could the winners please contact me on jjjustjane@bigpond.com with their postal details. You have until the announcement of the winners for next month to do so. Don't forget to grab our winners badge from the sidebar.

Our Creative Team highlight from last month is Tone with her sensational layout. She will receive a little surprise something from me.

Please don't forget to enter this month's ARTastic challenge. All the details are in the left sidebar. Remember you have until the end of the month to submit your entry.

Saturday, 1 April 2017

Fresh from the hottest February on record to now the wettest month in many, many years I think everyone in my region of Australia is looking to April with a great deal of hope - please, please produce some nice Autumn weather for us!This month we feature an ANZAC tribute artwork by Kenneth MacQueen called Wild Poppies. Our criteria this month is to use pops of red on your page.

CRITERIA - Pops of red

ANZAC Day (25th April) is our memorial day where we remember those who gave their lives in wartime. Your page doesn't have to be about this topic of course, unless you would like it to be - you can use anything that inspires you from the artwork - the muted feel of this piece, the subtle colours, the vision of a field of flowers, the use of watercolours, documenting a family war history, gratitude or remembrance. Please tell us how you were inspired.

Kenneth Macqueen was born on 8 April 1897 at Ballarat, Victoria, the son of a Presbyterian clergyman. He moved to Brisbane with his family in 1898, and to Sydney in 1909. From 1914 to 1916 he worked as a clerk at the Colonial Sugar Refinery. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1916, and served on the Western Front.

In London after the war Macqueen studied at the Slade School of Fine Art under Henry Tonks and at the Westminster School of Art under Bernard Meninsky. After returning to Australia in 1919 he worked on sheep stations in New South Wales. In 1922 he purchased a property at Mount Emlyn, near Millmerran, in south-eastern Queensland, where he divided his time between watercolour painting and farming. His daily life of farming brought him into a close personal relationship with nature.

Macqueen was one of the first Australian watercolourists to adopt a formalist approach in which shape and colour play a dominant role. He served as a Trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery in 1959-1960. Kenneth Macqueen died of a heart attack on 21 June 1960 at Millmerran, Queensland.

This year we are putting the ART back into ARTastic and our main prize each month will reflect that - this month featuring some arty products from Kaisercraft.

And as always a lovely prize pack for our random draw winner ...

Donated by Judy Willey

And now some amazing inspiration from the first of our team ...

TRACEY

I was inspired by the colours in the painting and the water colour technique which I used on my background.

KAREN

The inspiration I have taken from this painting is the poppies.

JUDY

I was inspired by the poppies and the profound memories of the ANZACs that walking through the poppy fields evoked in me. I was also inspired by the watercolours softness.

MARIA

This topic is important to me. I was inspired by the colours, flowers and red.

TANYA

I was inspired by the greyish blue watercoloured tones. Love the pop of red too.

EVELYN

I was inspired by the watercoloring, so I decided to use my ecoline liquid watercolors for it!

ELAINE

I loved the water colour, so I used it on my page for the background. I used this photo as I'm so thankful for the males in my life, and I just couldn't imagine what the wives and mothers went through, saying goodbye, as the men and boys headed off to war.

Over to you ......

Please upload the DIRECT link to your actual entry with the link tool on the LEFT by 11.55pm on April 30th, 2017. We'd love to see yournewpaper, digital, mixed media or off the page entries. Why not try doing a pocket page spread? Please no back-dated submissions.

Please note:- You may combine our challenge with a sketch challenge only - no other combining will be accepted. Please include our inspirational picture and challenge details on your blog post as well as provide a link back to us at ARTastic ... and don't forget to tell us how you were inspired by our challenge. You may enter more than once in any month as long as each submission is with a different creation. International entries are very welcome.

Please call past on the 8th for our announcement of the March winners and our ARTastic 3T's - Tips, Tricks and Techniques for April.

February random draw prize

2nd random draw prize

JANUARY inspiration is Beach Scene by Arthur Streeton

JANUARY entries

JANUARY Prize

JANUARY second prize - if more than 8 entries

Donated by Karen McLaughlin

December 2nd random draw prize

If more than 8 entries

NO WORD VERIFICATION please

Our Creative Team love to leave comments on each and every entry, so please make it easier for them to do so and remove WORD VERIFICATION for your comments. If you choose to use specialist galleries please be aware we may not be able to leave comments for you.

ARTastic is a challenge blog with a difference. We find inspiration in works of art.THE RULES - You don't need to be arty to play along with us - we accept traditional paper, digital, mixed media and off the page creations at any level. International entries are welcome. You may combine with other challenges. Please include our inspirational artwork and a link back to ARTastic on your entry and tell us how you were inspired by our artwork.